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Her knees went weak, and she would have fallen if Jon hadn’t supported her. Her throat thickened, and she tried to wet her lips, but all the saliva had dried up in her mouth. She hadn’t expected these results, not really. Deep in her heart, she’d been sure Sarah would never have turned on her the way Taylor did.
“Annie?” Bree’s voice seemed to come from far away.
Annie barely felt Jon moving her to a chair and pushing her head down between her legs. She took a deep breath at his command, then another and another until her head began to clear.
When she sat back up, Bree was squatted in front of her. Her green eyes radiated warmth and concern. “I know this is a shock, Annie, but honestly, I never dreamed you’d ever have closure after all these years. Think of what a wonderful gift thisis—Sarah is alive! She wasn’t murdered and left in an unmarked grave somewhere. Your baby sister is here in town.”
“I-I’ve treated her terribly.”
“You did what you had to do to protect your daughter. That’s all. You were never unkind.”
Annie covered her face with her hands. “I should have sensed it. How did I not know Taylor was my sister? It seems impossible. I should have known!”
Jon put his hand on her back. “Annie, think about it. She wore contact lenses to change the color of her eyes. She dyed her hair. How could you recognize Sarah in the remodeled woman who showed up here? She deliberately set out to deceive you. Just because you didn’t recognize her doesn’t mean her actions were miraculously all right. She came here to make you pay for something that wasn’t your fault. You had no control over what happened that night.”
She knew he was right, but grief and guilt raged a terrible storm in her heart. If only her parents were alive right now. If only she could have brought Taylor to them and announced she’d found Sarah. It might have made up for the disappointment Annie had been to them, especially her dad.
Her vision blurred again, and she struggled to hold back the tears. “Does she know yet?”
Mason settled into a kitchen chair and reached for a pancake and the syrup. “No, we came straight here.”
“How do you think we should tell her?” Annie looked to Jon for guidance.
“I thinkyoushould tell her.”
“I agree,” Bree said. “She’s waiting for this same news. If someone else tells her, she’ll think you are upset or angry. Thiswill be your first chance to begin to heal the breach between the two of you.”
How did she go about doing that when in her heart this news had crushed just a little of the life out of her? The gulf between her sister and her seemed insurmountable. Even now she found it hard to think of Taylor as Sarah. Could Annie even look her in the face and call her by her beloved sister’s name?
Her chest felt heavy, and she found it hard to think past what the day would bring. “What do I say to her? She knows I didn’t believe her, not really. Parts of her story seemed true, but coming here under false pretenses is such a bizarre thing to do.”
“Which is why you need to stop with the guilt. You didn’t do anything to her,” Jon said.
She nodded. “My head knows that, but my heart still sees the little sister I couldn’t save. I’d better go there now.”
“I’ll take Kylie home with me,” Bree said. “She can eat breakfast here, and we’ll go play a while. Take your time. Say whatever you need to say, but be prepared for this healing to take some time. It’s not likely to be resolved today.”
That was an understatement with the way Annie felt right now.
***
Jon could sense Annie’s agitation at the upcoming confrontation with Taylor/Sarah as he went to call Kylie to come to breakfast. He rapped his fingers on her half-open door, then poked his head in. The sound of thePokémontheme cut off as she turned off her iPad. “Breakfast is ready.”
“Okay.” She hopped off the bed and came toward the door.
He pushed it all the way open and moved out of the way.Her eyes widened, and a frown settled on her face. “Why are you wearing my daddy’s T-shirt? Take it off right now!”
“I got caught in the storm, and my clothes were soaked.”
“Mommy gave you Daddy’s clothes?” Her face screwed up as she began to cry. “You’re moving right into Daddy’s place, aren’t you? He’s still my dad. No one can take his place. I don’t understand why you are doing this.”
Jon winced at the pain in her face. “Honey, it’s just clothes. Your dad was my best friend. He wore my things sometimes too. He’d jump in the lake with his clothes on when we were horsing around, and I’d have to dig out something for him to wear home. If we looked through his clothes, I’ll bet I could find some of mine he never gave back.”
“I got him that shirt for Christmas,” she wailed. “It was his favorite.”
“How about I find another shirt? I’m sorry it upset you. My clothes were dripping with mud.”
He backed out of the room, but she followed him. “I’ll get a shirt, one that doesn’t matter so much.”
